The World Intellectual Property Day is observed every year on April 26 with an aim to raise awareness about how patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs impact daily life and to celebrate innovation and creativity.

In the year 2000, member states of WIPO agreed to observe day on 26th April to commemorate the establishment of the WIPO Convention in 1970. The World Intellectual Property Day is WIPO’s largest intellectual property (IP) public outreach campaign. The day is an opportunity to promote intellectual property rights and to educate the public about the role of these rights in promoting innovation and creativity.

The intellectual property rights lie in the fact that they encourage creativity and innovation. By providing legal protection for original works, the intellectual property rights encourage individuals to invest and share their ideas with the world. Intellectual property primarily refers to intangible assets generated by the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce.

The theme for the World Intellectual Property Day 2023 is “Accelerating Innovation and Creativity: Women and IP”. Hence, the primary objective of this year’s theme is to inspire women creators and entrepreneurs to have a “can-do” attitude towards innovation and creativity. As half of the population globally being female (49.58 per cent), they play a significant role in shaping the world through their creativity, hard work, and resourcefulness.

To promote the World Intellectual Property Day every year, WIPO works together with several agencies of government, non-government organisations, community groups and individuals to organise events and activities.

In India, it is celebrated by many Institutes like Narayanamma Institute of Technology & Science, Alliance Center for Intellectual Property Rights (ACIPR), Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru and many other companies, colleges and government agencies.

On the occasion, some events are lined up to celebrate or create awareness about intellectual property among people. These are:

Seminar: Women And IP – Accelerating Innovation and Creativity

The role of women in IP is occasionally discussed, not frequently studied. Over the past few years, increasingly researchers, IP offices and governments are beginning to ask interesting questions about the representation and participation of women in the creative business. This year, the role of women in IP has taken the centre stage with the World Intellectual Property Organization deciding to theme its annual World IP Day around “Powering Change: Women in Innovation and Creativity”.

World IP Day

IPR is a tool for protecting the nation’s innovation, creative work, and economic development. Women play a major role in any the country’s development while worldwide only 7-12 per cent of innovations by women are patented. This is the theme of Women and IP: Can Do spirit of women entrepreneurs worldwide is commemorated and celebrated by the IPR Chair of the Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai

National workshop on Artificial Intelligence’s impact on Intellectual Property

Alliance Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (ACIPR) under the aegis of Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru is organising the event on April, 26 in commemoration of the World Intellectual Property Day, 2023. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous in our daily lives, and its impact can be felt across a broad spectrum of fields. With the swift development of AI, it becomes paramount to understand its interplay with the present legal framework. The Intellectual Property (IP) framework is one of the most suitable regimes to deal with the regulation of AI, which is indispensable in the current scenario. This Workshop has been designed to offer an insight into AI’s impact on IP.

IP Walk and Talk

IP Walk and Talk is an initiative of SVKM’s Pravin Gandhi College of Law to commemorate the World IP Day. At the event, creative expressions by the students by way of posters will be exhibited and explained to the visitors. This event aims at creating awareness, peer learning, and also learning through interactions of the experts who will be exhibiting.